Ask HN: What are you thankful for?

I have celiac and serious food allergies, as well as an esophageal disorder. I also can’t digest milk or eggs properly. When I go to the grocery store, I walk around pretty much laughing to myself about how I literally cannot eat almost anything there. For Thanksgiving, I am having plain beef roast in a blender (well, sea salt) and specific potato chips. And cider - I mean, it’s not all bad.

It’s easy to take health for granted, but it’s amazing how much it can screw up your life when one part of your body isn’t working.

I was born in a prosperous country at a good time. I had parents who were well intentioned and reasonably smart. I have an older sister and got to see and avoid some of her mistakes.

Some of the work that I did early on is not too impressive now, but was sufficiently impressive at the time that I never had to look for work.

Capitalism appears to be rewarding people like me. I think there are many people who come from cultures that are resistant to learning better ways to do things. As such, they stagnate, while people who are able to separate the wheat from the chaff on the internet learn ways to be efficient that create ever widening gulfs between themselves and the dig-in-their-heels-and-never-admit-room-for-improvement crowd.